Take A Backup Payment Method - Do NOT assume your Magic Band will work

[MrsBlovesDisney]

I don't like lugging around a pocketbook ....nor carrying my ID/CC's in my pocket. I purchased this cell phone storage case from EYN......I LOVE IT!!!

 

[wisblue]

A few weeks ago the system went down while I was in MK, in line at Casey's. I always use cash, so it didn't bother me, but the guy in front of me was beyond furious. He had a whole tray of food and was positively livid that the band wouldn't work. I think that was near the start of the outage, because I only heard about it an hour or two later while reading twitter.

This one puzzles me. At a counter service location, wouldn't the customer know that there was a problem with the payment system before the order would go through and definitely before he would have a tray of food?

 

[Virtucomp]

So if their system goes down after you've already eaten your Table Service meal and you have no other form of payment what do they do? Make you do dishes? Make you wait at the restaurant until the system comes back up? Take your word for it you are who you say you are and charge your room?

They should eat the cost and say "This one's on Mickey". That's called Customer Service.

That's easy. They stick you in It's a Small World.




Another place you need something other than Magic Bands is at JellyRolls. They will not run a tab or accept Magic Bands as payment unless you have the actual credit card that goes with the card. The odd thing is you can use the Magic Band to pay as long as you show them the credit card that goes with it. DW and I went to JellyRolls last trip and completely forgot to bring extra cash or credit cards. The server said we could only pay for each round in cash unless we had a real credit card on hand. I guess too many people order drinks on a MB they found in the park.

 

[mesaboy2]

View attachment 84407 I don't like lugging around a pocketbook ....nor carrying my ID/CC's in my pocket. I purchased this cell phone storage case from EYN......I LOVE IT!!!

Maybe I'm paranoid, but keeping cards with magnetic stripes right next to a device that radiates electromagnetic radiation may not be the best choice.

 

[Ambear]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but keeping cards with magnetic stripes right next to a device that radiates electromagnetic radiation may not be the best choice.

Luckily it is very very very rare it would ever demagnetize your credit card. The phone isn't that strong.

 

[SmithSmith]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but keeping cards with magnetic stripes right next to a device that radiates electromagnetic radiation may not be the best choice.

I use a similar contraption called a Book Book by Twelve South. According to them:

The iPhone does not create or use magnetic material of any appreciable size either. If it did, it would interfere with the iPhone’s own internal Compass.

 

[BayouMickey]

Maybe I'm paranoid, but keeping cards with magnetic stripes right next to a device that radiates electromagnetic radiation may not be the best choice.

it would take a 1,000 gauss magnetic field to demagnetize a magnetic strip on a credit card. A cell phone generates 1.2 to 10 milligauss. So I'd wouldn't worry.. SCIENCE!

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I witnessed an EPIC meltdown in October during F&W because some lady didn't have her ID and they wouldn't serve her. I can't imagine ever going anywhere without an ID - I always take some cash, a CC, my ID, and my insurance card.

yep, I also always have all these with me.

 

[JanaDee]

Everyone carries a cellphone if you have an iPhone you can use apple pay no need to carry more credit cards. Although I still have to carry our disney visa to get our discount.

Not quite, if you have an iPhone 6 you can use Apple Pay.

 

[kaetra]

On our last visit the payment system went down and our MagicBands didn't work to pay, so we got free Mickey Bars.

 

[bumbershoot]

"I'm not even sure there is a method to "charge to the room" by signing something anymore."

There was; there is; and there will always be. Do you have or does the nearest trash can have a used envelope the back of which has not yet been scribbled on?

I'm not sure what you mean. I was referring back to someone asking about signing a slip (not meaning a receipt), bypassing the MB system, to charge back when the MB payment system is down. I wasn't referring to how you charge with the MB. Like in '07 at disneyland you charged back to the room with a form and a slip of paper proving you were staying onsite; WDW was beyond that at that point as far as I know, and I doubt that even exists anymore in the bowels of a restaurant's supply closets. So if the MB system is down, DO they have a way of charging to the room?

What do you mean with the trash can and used envelope stuff? I don't understand.

This one puzzles me. At a counter service location, wouldn't the customer know that there was a problem with the payment system before the order would go through and definitely before he would have a tray of food?

Good point.

Maybe I'm paranoid, but keeping cards with magnetic stripes right next to a device that radiates electromagnetic radiation may not be the best choice.

And it's Disney themselves that have caused that paranoia in me, because when a Disneyland AP would go wonky, they would ask "did you have it near a phone?" and that was where they stopped. Turned out it was the big ol' magnet in my purse that was messing things up, had nothing to do with my phone, but the paranoia continues!

Plus I don't want everything altogether like that; lose one you lose it all. Knowing me, I would!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

That's easy. They stick you in It's a Small World.




Another place you need something other than Magic Bands is at JellyRolls. They will not run a tab or accept Magic Bands as payment unless you have the actual credit card that goes with the card. The odd thing is you can use the Magic Band to pay as long as you show them the credit card that goes with it. DW and I went to JellyRolls last trip and completely forgot to bring extra cash or credit cards. The server said we could only pay for each round in cash unless we had a real credit card on hand. I guess too many people order drinks on a MB they found in the park.

I had read somewhere that Jellyrolls is 3rd party owned. I wonder if maybe that is moreso the reason they opt out of MB purchases.

MB's cannot be used without a PIN anyway, so someone who finds one cannot charge to it anyway.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Based on how many people post that they go to the parks with just their magicband, I'd say it probably is not common sense.

Again people lack basic common sense. As a grown adult who lived on this planet for at least 20 years you don't think brining an id and credit card or cash as back up is pretty much human 101?

 

[momimouse27]

Honestly, I want to thank the OP for this thread. This year, for the first time, I'm planning to charge most of the food for my daughters(18 and 21) to the bands. We have separate rooms and no DP so it seemed like the most convenient way to pay for their food without having to hand over cash every day. It never dawned on me that there might be a situation where they just wouldn't charge.

Now i'll have a heads up to give them some emergency cash just in case something doesn't work.

 

[MolonLabe]

Again people lack basic common sense. As a grown adult who lived on this planet for at least 20 years you don't think brining an id and credit card or cash as back up is pretty much human 101?

Considering there is no law requiring a person to carry ID if they are simply walking around and how much WDW pimps the tragic bands ( love that BTW lol), why is it so hard to imagine?

Personally I do always carry ID, but not for the reason most do, and also cash and a CC but it's not like that's required... although theoretically you could be charged with with vagrency if you didn't have any money on you, but I digress.

As to the Tragic Bands, I've never had my payment denied but I have seen the system down when I've been in the parks. Usually it's down for a pretty short period of time.

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Why does it have to be a law? You even said yourself you carry identification because guess what it's common sense! If something happens to you or you get separated lost, hurt, or an accident you want someone to know who you are.

Disney constantly has also said that your personal information is not stored on the band so wouldn't you carry ID based on that?

I'm just saying in real life your credit card can be denied at any time for any reason be it fraud ect that's why people still carry cash.

I have my iPhone with Apple pay, cash and my wallet. I'm just saying most people carry a basic wallet I'm sorry if this is to much to ask or to put together that hey maybe I should carry my wallet too.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

Meh - I have taken too many trips to WDW to count, with hundreds of days in the parks. I only carry an ID if I am using an AP during that trip. I have never taken a CC into the parks, or needed one for any reason. I do carry some cash with me, but less than $100. I carry the cash because some of the carts only accept cash. Many years ago, when the KTTW cards were in use, there was a problem with their systems that kept me from buying a meal with my room key. No big deal - I waited about an hour, tried again, and the system was back up. We ate then.

Stuff happens. Let it ruin your day if you wish. We'll just keep swimming.

 

[momimouse27]

Hey, people, this is a happy place!!

 

[flicx]

So what happens if the system goes down and you are on the meal plan? Is that on your bands? I also think we are forgetting the amount of cash that may be necessary to pay for a family of 4 or 5 at a Disney sit down restaurant. A few hundred with tip. Best have a wallet several hundred and credit cards and ID's. Just isn't what Disney advertises I guess!

 

[jtowntoflorida]

And not one has actually confirmed that this was a "band" problem. All reports refer to the dining plan, not room charge.

We've experienced both--an actual band failure (and a "Wow, we've never seen this error before!"), a payment system error with the DDP, and a payment system error with a room charge. Frankly, I don't care which step in their system fails...the average guest is going to call it a "band" problem when the band doesn't work for whatever reason.

FWIW, the easiest to resolve was actually the room charge error...because we could just give over our credit card instead. But when the payment system goes down and you're paying with the DDP, it really sucks because that generally requires a stop at GR or your concierge to reverse your credit card charge AND restore your dining credits.

When the all-out band failure occurred, which was at the Roaring Fork in WL, they just comped my husband his muffin, so major windfall for us there. And in that case, the band just stopped working with no explanation on our last day. It didn't work for anything (room, park admission, or charging), except for SOMK. Luckily, some glitch had given us two bands each (no split stay; we were given one ahead of time and another at checkin), so he had a spare to use. And interestingly, on our next trip, the band that glitched out on the prior trip worked just fine, so it wasn't just a battery failure or anything simple like it.